Contents

Overview

Human male and female as represented on the Pioneer 10 plaque

As the Latin word for their homeworld was "Terra", Humans were sometimes referred to as "Terrans", but not always. (This usage was consistent in the mirror universe.) Occasionally, the term "Terran" was used to distinguish Humans living on Earth from those resident on colonies on other planets and moons. Some people used the adjective "Terran" to refer to subjects or institutions associated with Humanity (Terran cuisine, Terran literature, Terran art, etc.). The Borg designation for Humans was Species 5618. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")

By the 24th century, Human society had changed from what it was for most of recorded history. On Earth, hunger, war, disease, famine, and poverty had largely been eliminated. The acquisition of wealth was no longer the primary driving force in the lives of many Humans. A great deal of emphasis was placed on the importance of continued social and personal development. Thanks to the non-currency-based New World Economy and the development of replicators, material needs were largely satisfied. Although money was no longer used by Humans within the Federation, they did use gold-pressed latinum and other forms of currency (such as Bajoranlitas and credits) in places where it was still needed, such as Quark's. The idea behind not using money was that rather than seeking material possessions, Humans worked to better themselves and the rest of Humanity (see Human philosophy). (DS9: "Necessary Evil", "In the Cards"; Star Trek: First Contact) It must be noted that all of this more specifically applied to Humans within the Sol system, as many Earth colonies were known to have developed vast cultural differences from other Humans and some had even fallen into chaos, most notably Turkana IV. (TNG: "The Ensigns of Command", "Legacy")

Human settlements unaffiliated with Earth

While achieving warp capability in 2063, there were Human populations on other planets prior to this. In these cases, they would usually have been brought there by alien species, who had traveled to Earth. For instance, Native Americans had been transplanted on Amerind by an unknown alien race called the Preservers sometime in the 19th century. In 2268, they still lived as hunters and gatherers. CaptainKirk was adopted into one of the tribes of Amerind, as the god Kirok. (TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome") In 2153, the NX-classstarshipEnterprise, commanded by CaptainJonathan Archer, discovered a planet in the Delphic Expanse inhabited by six thousand Humans whose ancestors had been transplanted from the Ancient West during the late nineteenth century as slave labor by the Skagarans. (ENT: "North Star") The crew of the USS Voyager discovered, in 2371, another instance of Humans having been kidnapped as slaves. Aliens from the Delta Quadrant, known as the Briori, had abducted, in 1937, over three hundred other people (among whom was Amelia Earhart, whose disappearance had never been explained) to be utilized as slave labor on one of their planets. The Voyager crew discovered Earhart and Noonan, along with six other Humans, in a state of suspended animation, the only abducted Humans who had been left in stasis. By this time, the Humans had long since overthrown their Briori masters, and their descendants had established a thriving community on the planet. Upon being revived by the Voyager crew, Earhart and the others, who had come to be known as "the 37's" by the Human colonists, were given the option of joining the crew on their long journey back to the Alpha Quadrant. Earhart and the others declined, however, and elected to remain on the planet with the other Human colonists. (VOY: "The 37's")

Biology

Human and Earth DNA, like much of the life in the galaxy, was originally seeded by an ancient humanoid race (which shared similar DNA), and allowed to evolve under Earth's unique conditions. In time, they became Earth's animal biota, and one line evolved into Humans over millions of years. Humans are compatible with many other humanoid races across the galaxy because of this shared DNA. (TNG: "The Chase"; VOY: "Distant Origin") Many species are also affected by the same diseases across the galaxy because of the shared DNA. Some of Humanity's evolutionary ancestors included some kind of spider, amphibians, reptiles, primates, apes, and ultimately hominid proto-Humans; each was a separate link in the Humans' evolutionary chain, stretching back to the origins of all lifeforms on Earth. (TNG: "Genesis"; VOY: "Threshold")

In TNG: "Genesis", Lieutenant CommanderData speculates that a strange contagion that has overtaken the Enterprise-D is "de-evolving" the crew, by activating introns that revert them to earlier evolutionary forms. The Humans and other "Earth"-based species in the show "devolve" into creatures ranging from arthropods (spiders, in the case of Barclay), ape-like "proto-Humans", and reptiles (Spot, Data's cat, becomes a lizard). Humans did not actually evolve from modern spiders, but the episode suggests that Humans evolve from a common ancestor between Humans and spiders, an ancestor that predates the proto-Humans. In reality, there are no known arthropods in Humanity's genetic history. (Wikipedia:Timeline of human evolution) It is theorized to have instead proceeded from fish, to amphibians, to reptiles, to early mammals, apes, homonids, and ancient Human species.

Similarly, in the Voyager episode "Threshold", Captain Janeway and Tom Paris de-evolved into amphibian salamanders similar to acanthostega (a quadraped amphibian species that is theorized to have evolved into some of the earliest lizards, and then mammals, which would later split off into apes).

Culture

Various Humans working with other humanoids

Humans were easily the most outworldly, idealistic, and expansionistic race in the United Federation of Planets, and possessed those qualities in a greater degree than many of the alien races they encountered. Humans had no true specialty or extraordinary qualities and were average in both a technological and physical sense.

The Devore inspector Kashyk remarked that Human culture had many contradictions – such as violence and beauty, as well as science and faith – all somehow mingled harmoniously, similar to the counterpoint of a musical composition. (VOY: "Counterpoint")

Because Humans were the Federation species most interested in space exploration, they made up a large majority of Starfleet. The fact that Starfleet was originally a pre-Federation Earth organization also contributed to the Human dominance of Starfleet. Humans also made up the majority of colonists on Federation colonies.

Human adaptability and their strong tradition of innovation and cooperation brought them to the forefront of the current Federation interstellar situation. It was for this very reason, however, that Human society was constantly changing and evolving. This was seen not only on the isolated colonies, where the past traditions brought by culturally and geographically homogeneous blocks of colonists competed with new cultural pragmatism demanded of frontier life, but also in the staid and settled core worlds as well. Fashion, speech, and especially political views were constantly changing.

For species that were steeped in tradition and genealogical reverence as the basis of their societies, the Human fascination with the novel experience and their unending desire to innovate and explore, to discover for the sake of discovery, were all difficult concepts to grasp.

As evidenced by the final draft script of ENT: "Shockwave, Part II", Humans of another alternate timeline were at one point intended to appear in that episode, living in a city which had been ruined a long time beforehand. However, in the final version of that episode, no such Humans appear.

Mirror universe

In the mirror universe, Humans were known as Terrans and were the founders of the Terran Empire. They were filled with fear and suspicion when a Vulcan scout ship landed on Earth to initiate first contact in 2063. The Humans slaughtered the Vulcan crew and used the technology within to create an interstellar empire. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly")

This Empire lasted centuries until it was overshadowed by the equally vicious aspirations of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. Although many races in the mirror universe harbored hopes of forming a peaceful alliance to protect civilization, Terrans were rarely found among these rebels due to the wealth and safety afforded by their violent expansionist policies. (DS9: "Crossover")

Aliens becoming Human

Other information

The Borg designation for Humans was "Species 5618". Humans were considered by the Borg to possess below-average cranial capacity, minimal redundant systems, and limited regenerative abilities. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")

The Klingon, Vulcan, and Ferengi words for Human were spelled exactly the same ("Human"), although the Klingon was pronounced with a rough fricative, much like the "ch" in "Bach" or "Loch", and the Vulcans changed it to "Khuman". Klingons also referred to them by the name of their home planet Terra, tera'ngan, and the Ferengi changed the pronunciation of the "a" in Human, pronouncing it as "hyu-mon".(citation needed • edit)

Q once stated that the Human race would one day become more powerful than the Q. (TNG: "Hide and Q")

Occasionally, the term "Human" was used to describe races even though no link to Earth was evident, such as the Beta III natives or Lazarus' race.

Related topics

Background information

Humans are the only species to have made an appearance in almost every episode to date of all eight Star Trek series and all thirteen films (except VOY: "Living Witness", though several holographic representations of Humans are present in that episode). In addition, the plurality of the lead characters of every Star Trek series so far have been Human.

In the final draft and the revised final draft of the script for TOS: "The Enemy Within", Leonard McCoy submitted that part of "the Human condition" was having "an enemy within."